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The visitors from the sky had brought many an intriguing concept from their homelands to the knowledge of the Chrysos Heirs, that many of them, including Aglaea herself, had decided to keep secret from the people of Okhema and further cities, for fear that the revelation might only cause panic among the powerless civilians going about their lives. The Titans knew that Okhema didn’t really need more strife than had already befallen it, and the civilians knowing this secret might cause the already existing tension to only worsen, and for the already crumbling foundations to further worsen.
There had been a few of the Heirs that had voiced their protests, stating that the civilians knowing of such might inspire hope rather than strife, but Aglaea had found herself knowing that wasn’t the case-
The thread around her finger twitched incessantly like an annoyed chimera, and Aglaea sighed to herself.
She had found herself unwilling to believe that could possibly bring hope to what was already a hopeless endeavor. Well, in that, she found herself at a loss to truly deal with the whole visitors from the sky ordeal, and what other concepts they might bring into the streets of Okhema. This one thing was already enough to deal with, and Aglaea certainly didn’t need those three causing anymore trouble than what was worth. Although, the dark-haired one somehow being a chimera magnet had brought some amusement to her, seeing the young-looking guy topple to the floor by a very large pack of them, that had even had Hyacine amused.
Though, Aglaea did know better of the young man’s identity. The Threads did know all after all, and though the man wasn’t presenting with his horns and tail, they were always there, or so the Threads told her such.
Dan Heng was a Vidyadhara, a creature otherwise unknown to the lands of Amphoreus. Ancient in themselves of course, and of course, the Threads also told her things, that for the mere purpose of keeping up a jovial relationship with the visitors, she decided not to dwell on. She did still have a heart, frozen as it may be from Mnestia’s influence.
Aglaea watched quietly as the young man picked himself off of the floor, briefly pausing in sharpening Garmentmaker’s sword, the living mannequin otherwise silent. To the right of the Vidyadhara was one of the strange ones, the silver haired boy, who like his presumed sister, Aglaea had to manually connect to the Threads, but it had been no issue. But, doing so had led her to discovering the red thread tied around the boy’s finger, first finding it to have no end, before finally realizing that the other end was attached to the Vidyadhara’s finger. Funny then, that they’d both happened to appear on Amphoreus at the same time. The silver haired boy, Caelus’, Aglaea recalled, sister also had a red thread wrapped around her finger, but for her, Aglaea had been unable to find the end. Plus, the three of them seemed to be unable to see the threads themselves, unless Aglaea happened to be mistaken.
This had led to Aglaea confronting the three to ask about the thread, without disclosing that she knew the end receiver of Caelus’ thread. The three had first eyeballed her as if in confusion, but then eventually had received an answer, and from Dan Heng, which had made the most sense to her. “There’s this phenomenon where we’re from of this thing called Soulmates?” Dan Heng had begun, to Aglaea’s immediate interest, Phainon’s curiosity, Mydei’s disinterest, and Hyacine’s intrigue. Tribbios had been strangely absent, but Aglaea hadn’t been all that worried, as they could have been busy. “When everyone is born, a higher power ties a single red thread around their left index finger, and ties the other end on their Soulmate’s right index finger. This thread then supposedly can be twisted, knotted, burned, cut, but it will never actually be destroyed.” Heng had paused and then looked over at the Heirs. “You don’t believe in the Aeons, so you won’t know who I’m talking about here, but most believe it’s the work of Aha. Though we don’t know why it would be Them specifically.”
“So, it can never be destroyed?” Mydei had asked after everyone had gone silent. Dan Heng nodded, and before he could’ve answered with an actual answer, Phainon had patted Mydei on his shoulder with a slight chuckle.
“Well, that sounds just like someone we know. Hm, isn’t that right, Mydeimos?” Mydei glared at him. “Maybe instead of it simply being referred to as a red string, we should call it a Mydeimosan thread, hm? An immortal, invulnerable string, and an immortal, invulnerable guy. Seems fitting.”
“We’re not calling it that, Phainon,” Mydei had responded, causing amusement to arouse in Aglaea, and she let out a small chuckle. The three visitors had also chuckled, the silver haired twins looking particularly devious.
It was after this that Aglaea had started noticing strange happenings throughout the streets of Okhema. Castorice had taken to observing the flowers she could without causing them to wilt, a sort of quiet happiness upon her face as she observed them. She had always been a little withdrawn, but this behaviour had seemed almost odd. Castorice had also seemingly grown fond of a peculiar kind of dance, one that Aglaea had never seen before. It flowed easily, going from move to move as easily as water. It was elegant, in a way, but ultimately bored her. Though, one curious thing that she had noticed about her was the red thread now adorning her finger. Had Castorice always had that? Or was that new?
She’d only really noticed the thread after the conversation with the visitors, the conversation about Soulmates-
Soulmates…
The visitors claimed that it was a phenomenon native to their homeland, but Cipher had since found mention of it in ancient texts scattered in the many hidden libraries of the Okheman streets. Aglaea had even read a few of these texts herself. They were ancient in their form, but were still fairly well translated into the modern language, despite being vaguely hidden, as if someone hadn’t wanted them to find any mention of Soulmates in these texts. It stated that Soulmates were random in their selection, and that it may seem unclear at first as to why your soulmate is who they are, but if you took a chance on your Soulmate, you might find out why they were selected for you. The book had even mentioned various forms of Soulmate connections throughout the decades as well, the red string being the most ancient.
Well, that would make sense for Amphoreus.
Amphoreus was as ancient as it was new, functioning as if frozen in time, like it was nothing more than a memory. It experiencing the most ancient form of Soulmates, if that was such the case-
The Thread flickered back and forth angrily, and Aglaea sighed.
It was the case. The threads never lie, only people do.
Aglaea took new interest in her surroundings. Castorice continued doing that strange dance that she’d taken to, and then she noticed the goings on of Mydei and Phainon. The two were talking about something that she couldn’t hear, and her eyes found the red string attached to the hand resting on Mydei’s hip, him looking away, and down as if staring at the very red string that he found himself with. Phainon, on the other hand, was playing with a chimera, it making playful chirps, with Phainon laughing. The red string around his finger was attached to Mydei’s and seemingly, when Mydei met eyes with Aglaea, he reddened as if caught and looked away. This roused a chuckle out of her and a whirring noise sounded beside her.
“Have you found them yet, Madame?” Came the voice of Garmentmaker, and when Aglaea turned her head in surprise, the mannequin chuckled. “I see you eying every other Heir who’s found theirs, and you may not want to admit it to yourself, but I believe you’re wishing yours was as easy to find as theirs. You’re avoiding looking at your finger, you know.”
“I’m more curious on how this phenomenon occurs in the first place,” she responded, ignoring the slight shake of the Thread. A half-lie, but it wasn’t a full lie, so she continued on. “The outlanders mentioned this commonly occurs where they’re from, and now all of a sudden it’s happening here. I can’t help but feel like this phenomenon is nothing more than a disease, a pathogen, that the visitors have brought upon Okhema. And yet, the pathogen doesn’t seem all that bad? It isn’t causing anyone strife.”
“Madame, we, and my multiple incarnations before me, all know you don’t truly believe that,” Garmetmaker responded, the mannequin feeling its finger down the sword. It didn’t say anymore, and went silent
“I suppose. But, what good is a singular red thread with no end? No possibility of ever finding out who exactly it would be. I don’t even feel them near, I barely feel their presence at all.” She sighed as she saw that the Thread remained still, it was the truth. The ancient texts had mentioned feeling a sort of presence of your Soulmate there, but Aglaea felt close to nothing. The most that she could feel was that her Soulmate was still alive. She couldn’t feel how close they were to her, if near at all. Castorice must feel something to be dancing like that, Mydei must feel something in Phainon’s presence. All Aglaea felt was nothing. Not a single spark of sense, of her Soulmate. Was her Soulmate that far away? “I must say I can’t sense any presence of them at all, and maybe, I’m just not meant to know at all.”
The Thread around her finger twitched and Aglaea suddenly got an idea.
“I’m gifted with the ability to see the Threads,” she murmured out as if coming to her decision, Garmentmaker remaining silent. “And I also have the ability to connect ones not already on the Threads to them. I don’t know if they will interfere with each other, but it’s worth a shot. If I can manage to reach the other end of this red thread, maybe the Threads will show me more.” Aglaea grabbed at one of the golden threads around her, and lifted her left hand, where the red string manifested itself for the first time and Aglaea paused. Whereas her side of the string was, clean and undamaged, as it reached the cut off point of what she would be able to see, it started noticeably becoming damaged and burnt. In fact, the string was mostly burnt, as if the person on the other end was bathed in flames on a near constant bases, and something was caked on the lower half of the rope, something twisted, and dark, though it looked like mere charcoal. It was almost as if the coal had coagulated on the string itself, covering it in some sort of barrier.
A wall.
Why was a wall significant to her Soulmate?
Aglaea turned her attention back on the task at hand, and readied the Golden Thread for the experiment. Warming it up, Aglaea sighed. “O Great Thread of Gold, travel far and let untold tales be told.” She threw the thread into the abyss surrounding the the red string, and it disappeared from sight, likely to never be seen again if the plan shouldn’t work. But one thing about the Golden Threads was that they never disappoint and they never lie
The first sign that anything worked was the echo of the name Rosalyne, a name unknown to the Okheman skies, distinctly feminine. An echo of a voice also graced her ears, but Aglaea couldn’t make out the words, though it seemed brooding, and uncaring, which would seem a little odd for Aglaea’s Soulmate in her honest opinion. Then, the Thread violently whipped at something, before starting to pull something and soon enough a woman lay collapsed by Aglaea’s feet. She stared down at the woman, thoroughly surprised. She hadn’t been aware that the Threads had that kind of power, all she knew of them were that they would never lie, and yet, here the woman lay. To make sure that the woman was in fact, real, Aglaea reached out to touch the woman’s head.
Her hair was silky and smooth, and the colour of polished marble on a sunny day and she was donned in black and red, which complimented the pale colour of her hair. Her hair was long, cascading down her back, and she was lying as if she’d been thrown across a colosseum. Aglaea blinked as she stared down at her. She was coming down from her initial shock at this scenario, as the three visitors had arrived in a similar manner, though their arrival had been more planned, judging by the ruins of their ship, but this woman had just appeared seemingly randomly after Aglaea had tried something new with the Threads.
Mydei and Phainon had wandered over after hearing the the commotion, as had Hyacine who had been discussing something with a chimera very fervently and all four of them were now staring down at the mysterious woman. “I’ll get her to the infirmary,” Hyacine decided, motioning for some help from some bystanders, and then walking off with the help in tow and taking the mysterious woman with her. Mydei turned his attention on Aglaea.
“Who?”
“I don’t-“
“Hey, Dei,” Phainon asked, looking over at him. “Did you notice that doohickey around her finger?” Aglaea decided to just stare at the floor while she calmed from the shock of the woman just suddenly appearing in front of her, and even Garmentmaker was silent.
“Don’t call me that, Deliverer ,” Mydei muttered, rolling his eyes. “But yes. Though I’m surprised you haven’t noticed your own finger, idiot.” Though, Mydei added under his breath, “You never notice anything you dumb fuck.” At that, Aglaea eventually recovered from the shock, though she giggled a little at his response. “Anyways, lady Aglaea, what on Amphoreus happened here? All of a sudden you have a woman passed out at your feet and are staring at her like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Well it certainly seems like you two are getting along well, especially when considering, well you know.” Her eyes gazed at Mydei’s finger and he looked away. She then grew serious. “I’m not quite sure what happened myself. All I was trying to do was see if I could see any semblance of my supposed Soulmate, and all of a sudden that woman shows up at my feet, like I manifested her very presence. And according to those three, that never usually occurs when it comes to something like this, I’m almost wondering if it has to do with the state Okhema is in. Hm… that would make sense…” she trailed off, and Mydei could only nod.
“Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I’m gonna go to the baths, I’m covered in chimera hair, and that’s not good for anyone who’s allergic to the fellas, so I’m going to take my leave.” Phainon stroked his finger along Mydei’s bicep, and hummed slightly. “Feel free to join me Mydeimos! The bath is always big enough for the both of us! Bye, bye.” Aglaea practically had to cough to prevent herself from laughing in an unlike herself way, especially at the way that Mydei’s face reddened significantly, whilst glaring at Phainon’s retreating frame.
“I do suggest following after him,” she couldn’t help the teasing tone in her voice. “He seemed to be quite into that idea. And I don’t think he’ll want to be kept waiting.” Mydei glared at her but sighed.
“Tell. No one. I might be immortal, but you’re not,” he said gruffly before begrudgingly following Phainon to the baths, Aglaea giggling to herself, before starting on her own journey, towards the infirmary, to check on the mysterious woman, it was the least she could do.
The journey to the infirmary was quiet and quick, as Aglaea had no where else to be, and she opened the giant doors, to find Hyacine fretting over the woman, by pressing a warm towel to her head, and Hyacine had also stripped the woman down to just her undergarments, and Aglaea could see all the burns scarring over her skin, as if she’d been possessed by a Titan or something or other, though Aglaea couldn’t recall any Titan being able to burn anything, and certainly not Nikodor, at the very least. She walked over to the woman, Rosalyne, the echoes had provided earlier, and sat beside her in the bath. Her face was fairly round, and pointed in a slight chin, and Aglaea tilted her head as she looked at her. She was wearing a half mask on one of her eyes.
And when the women opened her eyes, they were a pale gray, as opposed to Aglaea’s own eyes of greenish blue.
Rosalyne blinked at Aglaea and she could see the confusion in the woman’s eyes as her eyes traveled over the various walls of the infirmary before finally resting her eyes and noticing the state of undress, her gaze growing accusatory, and unbeknownst to her, Aglaea could sense her underlying fear at being seen basically one layer away from being full nude. Or at least, the Threads told her of such. “You’re in the Okheman infirmary bath in the lands of Amphoreus,” Aglaea begun, the distrust slowly leaking out of Rosalyne’s shoulders, but she still looked miles confused. “I am Lady Aglaea, the Goldweaver, a dressmaker here in Okhema.” Her tone was neutral and calm, though distrust was still rampant in Rosalyne. The recognition was hidden deep in her gaze, but it was clouded in distrust.
“I’m… not dead?” She said finally and Aglaea blinked, now in her own confusion. Rosalyne seemed to celebrate this not dead-ness, and continued, as without a care in the world, “I can- wait. Did you say Okhema?” The conniving tone left her in an instant, being replaced with an odd emotion that Aglaea couldn’t quite decipher.
“You may not be dead, but you certainly arrived suddenly. You landed passed out on the ground before me.” Rosalyne’s eyebrows narrowed in confusion.
“I landed here? How?” She sounded duly unbelieving, and Aglaea couldn’t exactly blame her, as it had been quite sudden for her as well, to just have Rosalyne appear like that. Aglaea was recovered now, but it was still quite a shock. She shifted slightly and looked at Rosalyne.
“That would appear to be my fault,” Aglaea said quietly. “The concept of Soulmates had recently come to my attention and in an attempt to figure out mine, I consulted Mnestia’s Golden Threads, by rubbing them against this red string on my finger, and as a result that brought you here, but I unfortunately cannot explain why it did that.” Rosalyne’s expression immediately changed into one of contempt, and she scoffed at the very idea of it, fixing her bra strap.
“Soulmates? Bah! That’s just some story parents tell their children, I’m surprised you’ve fallen for that trap, you seem like quite the intelligent woman. I don’t know how long you’ve been fed that lie, but trust me, Soulmates don’t exist.” A strange emotion crossed Rosalyne’s face just then, and it seemed like she was reliving some trauma over again. The Threads would likely known that information, but Aglaea didn’t want to pry, especially since this trauma seemed particularly mentally taxing. Rosalyne glanced over at the intricate pieces of jewelry attached to where her clothes had been neatly folded on the side of the bath, and the contempt look on her face had widened into surprise. Aglaea didn’t exactly know why, both gems were as white as the clouds of the sky, but Rosalyne seemed horrified at this revelation. “If that’s… then why…” she muttered to herself. She glanced over at her arms, they were scarred, almost burned charcoal black, but whatever she was looking for, she didn’t find. Rosalyne then seemed to backtrack a bit to the topic before hand. “Soulmates don’t exist, my Lady,” she repeated but her voice had changed.
The Threads started thrashing about like a hooked fish.
This time, there was an inherent sadness to her, hidden under layer upon layer of carefully constructed wall, which no living person would be ever able to break. The scars of a past love gone awry, freezing the Rosalyne’s heart for what would seem like eternity. Walls usually meant one untouchable, but the Threads knew better. Aglaea stroked that strange thread with her finger. Though the woman may suppress the sadness underneath miles of wall, the Threads knew all.
It was only a lie.
This mantra of hers, that Soulmates don’t exist, was only a lie. A lie meant to hide hidden pain, a defense mechanism, cool and practiced. Aglaea had only known this woman for the current day, but she could already tell that this lie that she told herself, was untrue.
“Rosalyne, that might be your belief, but I would personally like to believe that Soulmates do truly exist. I’ve seen things over the past few days that lead me to believing that Soulmates exist.” She looked over at her. Rosalyne had a weird expression on her face. “The things I’ve seen have to be seen to be believed, but at least for me that does seem to be the case.”
“No one’s called me that since Rostam…” she murmured flatly, and Aglaea raised an eyebrow.
“I’m not sure if we’ll be able to to get you back to your home realm within due time, we’d have to first figure out how you got here in the first place-“
“I’m… not sure if I want to go back.” She stated emotionlessly.
“Come again?”
“I don’t want to go back. There’s nothing left for me in that world anymore. All I’m known as over there is a monster, or as dead. My time on that world is over anyways. I said I’m not dead, am I not? So, seeing as I’m not, maybe, I can afford a do-over. I guess.” She flicked her hair over her shoulder. “And I suppose if Soulmates exist and you’re mine, I might as well get to know you. You are quite an attractive woman, if I do say so myself.” Rosalyne stood up from the bath, summoning Hyacine from wherever she’d found herself, but after checking her over, she promptly left. She cupped Aglaea’s chin between her long-nailed finger nails, she gazed at her. “Maybe you could even make me a dress or two, Dressmaker?”
Aglaea smiled a little and then walked over. Whipping out a piece of fabric from seemingly nowhere, she looked at Rosalyne. “You’re fine with touch are you?” Rosalyne blinked and nodded, Aglaea nodding in response. She then wrapped the fabric around Rosalyne’s waist. “Hm, small waist, large hips,” Aglaea murmured to herself before moving up towards the chest. “Hm, large-ish bust, that would need to be factored in.” Aglaea looked up to find Rosalyne had gone a little red, probably because of embarrassment, seeing that she was still in her undergarments. “Perfect! Follow me to Okhema city and we’ll pick out some fabric!”